I am an eleven-year-old American Ahmadi Muslim. My parents are from Bangladesh and I am attending 6th grade in middle school. It has been quite an experience growing up in post-9/11 America in Queens with my background.

In the 5th grade, every time the topics Islam, Muslims, 9/11, or the World Trade Center were brought up, everyone, including the teacher, would stare at me as if I had something to do with this act of terrorism. In America, people associate the collapsing of the World Trade Center with Islam. They show their aggression towards us without knowing the truth about us or our religion.

Though it is true that the people who caused the World Trade Center to collapse were Muslims, they were only Muslims by name. Many people are not aware that the meaning of the word Islam is “peace.”

I am a practicing Muslim who prays five times a day and regularly recites the Holy Quran and It makes me sad to see people spread violence in the name of Islam and send the wrong message to others.